Fate Alter
by SFNFan
Summary: In the United States, a new Holy Grail has been found. As mages gather in the city to become potential masters in the upcoming Holy Grail War, we focus on two driven towards their goals with an innocent little girl caught between their struggles. Read as new masters summon servants as they have not been seen before.
1. The King and the Fool

**AN: This is a new series I am wishing to complete. Not sure if it will be received well, but I am going to try to complete it anyways! Enjoy!**

Chapter 1: The King and the Fool

There were two people in a small room. The first was a young girl with scarlet eyes and snow white hair. The other was a noticeably older man wearing a suit who was grooming the young girl. The room was sparsely decorated. One of the few decorations was a photo on the bedside table. The photo was of the little girl, a woman with long black hair, and a boy with messy brown hair. The two others had their arms around the girl and the group of them were smiling and laughing.

"Daddy, I'm scared," said a little girl.

"Why are you scared?" the man asked while buttoning the cuff of her gown.

"What if they are mean?"

The man had a moment of hesitation before responding, "I don't think they would be considered a hero if they were mean."

The little girl thought about it for a second before smiling at the man she called her father. The man smiled back as he stood up having just finished tending to the girl. At that moment, the sound of the doorbell ringing distracted the two.

"Is it eight already?" the man said as he left the bedroom.

The main door was not too far from the little girl's bedroom. It only took around ten seconds to cross the short distance in the flat to reach the door. When he opened the door, a boy had messy brown hair and was noticeably less dressed than the man by wearing just jeans and a hoodie. The man knew who the boy was. His wife had been working at the Clock Tower in England, and the boy in front of him was one of her favorite students.

The boy had frequently visited during the breaks to discuss magic and research that they shared interest in. During these talk, the man would frequently lose interest and leave. As a non-mage, he was shocked at first to learn about the existence of magecraft, but as time went by, he started to believe that there was reason that it was hidden to begin with. Mages seemed to have no consideration for common decency, and any subject matter was just another topic of interest to them regardless of the morality or common decency. He still loved his wife despite his disregard to magecraft. It was only because of his love for his deceased wife that he took care of the homunculus back in the other room.

"Hello, Henry," the man said to the boy as he walked into the flat.

"Hi, Mr. Carter. How's Mary doing?" asked the boy.

"She is doing better. She is still weak though," Mr. Carter replied, "I believe that you already know the details. My wife claimed she taught you well."

The smile on Henry's face waned at that response, and he dropped that question for another.

"How have you been doing? After Suzanne's death, I mean."

There was a short pause as Mr. Carter glared at Henry before saying, "I am fine. I am sure that if she was here, she would be pleased to see you and Mary getting along," he motioned towards the door, "Now if I may, I have to go to work. Make sure to lock the door on your way out."

After that, Henry was left standing alone in the flat. This was not his first time being alone there. He had frequently visited during the breaks since his professor's death to check-up on Mary. Even though Mary was a homunculus that his professor created for her research, he did not wish to check-up on her as a follow up to her research, but instead as what may be considered a brother. He had known Mary since the day after her creation, and had grown close to her. After the initial tests were done, Suzanne wanted to treat her as though she were her own daughter. Henry would meet her at Suzanne's office and discuss the things that he learned that day while waiting for her mother to get done with her other work.

Henry crossed the empty flat to Mary's room. When he reached the door to her room, he could already hear Mary's squeals of excitement failing to be contained. The moment he opened the bedroom door, she finally exploded.

"Henry!"

"Hi, Mary! How's everything going?"

"It's been great! Although, Daddy has been busy lately, so I haven't been able to play much lately," she said with a hint of loneliness in her voice, "But he says that he'll be around more soon!"

Henry knew exactly what she meant. He knew, just like any other mage, that a Holy Grail had recently emerged in the area. Mages had been entering the city during the last month in hopes to become a Master. He found out about that same time that Mr. Carter intended to join the war with Mary. He confronted Mr. Carter about this, but was unsuccessful in changing Mr. Carter's mind.

He wanted to tell Mary that she should not join the war with Mr. Carter, he wanted to tell her that if she does, she may die, he wanted to tell her that she should live her life how she wants to live; however, he couldn't stop but remember how Mr. Carter threatened to remove him from Mary's life if he attempted to prevent him from joining the war again. He knew that if he was not around, Mr. Carter would throw away Mary without hesitation. He viewed her as just a mistake that his wife left him when she died.

"That's great to hear," he said trying as hard as he could to hold back, "Maybe we will be able to spend more time together too like we did back at school."

"Yeah!" she squealed, "I've missed having you around every day. Both you and Mommy!"

Henry could hear a slight note of sadness with that last statement, but she seemed to come back as happy as ever. He couldn't help but respect the strength that she seemed to show.

"I do too."

The two continued to talk for a while. She asked about the magic he learned, the people he met, and the places he saw. During all of this, he would try to explain them as clearly as he could without making it too complex for her, and she was entranced the entire time. It was not much longer before she demanded they play. He was unable to resist her demands and eventually gave in. A few hours later it was time for Henry to leave.

* * *

Later that night, Mr. Carter had returned with a package. It took only an hour for him to prepare for the ritual. The magic circle was drawn on the floor of Mary's room. The content of the package was place in the center of the circle. It was a page of a text. The paper seemed to be ancient, and a corner of it was partially burnt.

Mr. Carter started to read the ritual's incantation from a book. During the entire ritual, he was holding Mary's hand. He required her, a homunculus, to provide the magic circuits and mana for the summoning since he was not a mage. As the ritual continued, the magic circle began to glow red. Mr. Carter began to feel a burning sensation on the back of his hand telling him that the Command Spells were starting to set in.

"…You, seven heavens clad in three words of power, arrive from the ring of deterrence. O keeper of the balance!"

With the last line, the magic circle grew blindingly bright. The entire room was engulfed in the red light before it quickly vanished. It took a moment for the two to regain their sight, and as they did, they saw a man kneeling before them.

The first thing they noticed about him was his size. The man looked to be easily over six, if not seven, feet tall. Not just was he tall, but he was muscular. He was an older man too. His hair, which fell down to his shoulders, was grey and so was the beard on his face. As for what he wore, he wore thick, brown woolen trousers held up by a thick belt with buckle etched with the head of snarling wolf and a sleeveless smock over short sleeved chainmail which framed his muscular arms. Around his head was a generous circlet of gold.

The man before them stood up. While standing, he towered over them. The large man seemed even larger now. The two of them felt as though he took up half the room.

"As your Master," Mr. Carter said trying to shake off the intimidating presence and gain the giant's attention, "I ask you. Who are you?"

The giant looked over both Mr. Carter and Mary before responding, "I am the slayer of monsters and demons, the great warrior of the Geats and hero of the Danes, and the noble King of Geatland," there was a pause from the giant as he turned his head back to gaze at Mr. Carter, "My name is Beowulf, and I am the Saber servant of this war."

"My name is Richard Carter," replied Mr. Carter who began to stretch out his hand towards Mary, "This is my homunculus who will be providing you with mana. You may call her Mary."

Beowulf turned to look towards Mary again. She was visually slow and weak due to the amount of mana that she used during the summoning. She did not have anything to hide behind, but she still seemed to try to hide herself from his gaze. She took a momentary glance towards Beowulf having fully expecting him to be glaring at her with disgust; however, what she saw was not what she expected. Although he was glaring at her, she did not see any disgust or hatred in his eyes, but instead she saw what looked like compassion.

"Now, I have some details we should discuss regarding your abilities," said Richard trying to gain Beowulf's again, "I also need to show you the place you will be staying here."

"That will not be necessary," Beowulf responded, "Servants need no sleep since we are spirits. Even so, I am used to housing with my fellow warriors instead of by myself."

Richard seemed a little put off at the idea of waking to the giant of a man freely wandering his room during the night, "I would prefer if you do not join me tonight."

Beowulf seemed a little confused at this before stating, "I was not referring to you," he pointed towards Mary, "She provides me with mana for my fights, and as such is a fellow warrior," he pointed back at Mr. Carter, "You only provide me with orders, and as such are a mere master."

Richard seemed angered by Beowulf using the word 'mere' to refer to him, even if he was declaring him as his master, "And what about your abilities?"

"That is of no concern at the moment either," Beowulf responded, "I have just been given a second life, so it is time to rejoice!"

With that, Mr. Carter had enough. 'I have summoned possibly the least helpful Servant there is,' he thought, 'But if his legends are accurate about his strength, he should be a Servant with few equals."

Richard Carter decided to leave his Saber servant and homunculus behind and rest for the night. Meanwhile, Beowulf began telling stories of the great Nordic heroes he knew in life and the trials they experienced. At first, Mary was scared by some of the tales and the horrors some of the heroes faced, but eventually the stories started to feel like those Henry told her. They were about the accounts of grand magic, extraordinary people, and otherworldly places. She even started asking Beowulf about the heroes themselves and what kind of people they were like. Meanwhile, the other Masters began summoning their Servants too.

* * *

Later that same night around midnight, there was a boy with messy brown hair etching a magic circle into the ground in an alley behind an apartment complex.

"There we go!" Henry said while he finished the last detail, "Just like how it is in the book. Now I just need to place this here."

He pulled out a small dagger from the bag he had with him and placed it in the center of the magic circle. He did not know whether the dagger would be enough of a catalyst to summon a Servant, but it was the only thing he could find. It originally was inside Mrs. Carter's office when he would visit after classes, and always seemed to be regarded as one of her most prized assets despite its common appearance. He once asked about it, and she only told him that the dagger was magical in nature.

He stood up and rolled up his sleeve revealing his magic crest and prepared to start the summoning ritual. The magic circle started to glow red when the ritual started. It grew brighter and brighter until he had to close his eyes. When he muttered the final lines, a sharp pain shot across his hand as command seals appeared. There was brief wave of exhaustion and ease as the ritual ended. He was not sure if it was because he was relieved that he succeeded or that he was tired from the mana loss. Either way, he slowly opened his eyes to see the Servant before him.

Standing in front of him was what seemed like an average person his age. He was shorter than Henry at around five and a half feet tall and did not seem very muscular. He wore rather modern clothes as well. The only specific characteristics of his appearance were his glasses, red plaid scarf, and the white patches in his spiky, red hair.

"Are you a Servant?" asked Henry who was unsure about whether he had succeeded after all.

The person before him tilted his head in curiosity, "So I was summoned into another Grail War?"

Henry took a moment to understand what the person just said. It was obvious now that the person before him was a Servant, but Servants lose their memories between Holy Grail Wars if they were summoned before; however, he seemed to retain his despite this. A sudden realization came to him from this.

"You were a Master in another Holy Grail War?"

The Servant looked a little disappointed in what Henry asked, "I hoped that this wouldn't happen, but I guess I was already summoned before anyways," the boy looked at Henry and said, "My name is Shirou Emiya. You probably wouldn't have heard of me since I never succeeded in being a hero, but you may call me Caster."

Henry looked shocked at Shirou for a moment, "Caster?" he asked fully knowing the respect that class has regarding magic, "I didn't know there was anyone from the modern age that could qualify as a Caster class Servant!"

Shirou nodded his head as though he understood where Henry's understanding was coming from, "Yeah. I'm not what you would normally call a sorcerer or even a mage. In life, I was only able to learn two types of magecraft."

"What?" Henry shouted out from shock, "How could you be a Caster and only know two types of magecraft? Casters should know magic that borders on miracles!"

At this, Shirou chuckled, "Thanks."

"For what?" asked Henry who still was not over the fact that the Caster he summoned only knew two types of magecraft.

"You reminded me of someone else for a moment, and it made me laugh since you two are nothing alike."

Henry was taken aback a little. He was not expecting his Servant to say that.

"Um…You're welcome," Henry finally said.

"Just like her, you might be a fine Master. So, let me tell you this," he said, "Although I only know two types of magecraft, I am the strongest Servant."

Henry looked at Shirou for a moment while he considered what he just said. Despite the ridiculous nature of the statement that he just made, the look in his eyes told him that Shirou fully believed in what he just said.

"Now if I may ask," said Shirou, "What is your wish?"

"My wish?" responded Henry, not expecting that question to be asked so early, and unprepared to answer. He took a moment to put himself back together before telling him, "My wish is to save a certain person."

This time, it was Shirou that looked surprised. It was only for a second before he let out another chuckle.

"That's funny," said Shirou. Henry was about to get angry at his Servant for rejecting his wish before Shirou grabbed onto his scarf and began to look sad again, "I too wish to save a certain person."


	2. The Knight in the Night

**AN: Thank you to those that have followed/favorited this story!**

Chapter 2: The Knight in the Night

It was only around six in the morning. Sunlight was starting to filter in through the blinds of the apartment. It was a small apartment with very few things inside, and was located in a far corner of the city. The only person awake at this hour was the only person who could not grow tired. A boy with messy, red hair was sitting in front of the television watching the morning news.

"Activists for gun regulation are claiming this as a perfect example of why gun reform is needed," reported the news anchor.

On screen, the picture of the crime scene changed to one of a building on fire.

"In other news, there was a fire that started last night at an abandoned warehouse. The fire spread to several other warehouses in the area before crossing over to a residential district," Shirou raised his head to listen more intently as they switched to video of people trying to put out the fire.

In the video, people were crying as a house was blazing out of control. The firefighters seemed to be gaining no control over the fire despite the sheer volume of water being sprayed onto it. The clip was short and possibly lasted only a few seconds; however, it felt much longer to Shirou.

The news anchor reappeared with an obviously sullen look, "The fire was eventually brought under control after several hours of the local firefighters struggling to contain the fire. Only three homes caught fire, but of the three families that were affected by this tragedy, only a single child survived…"

Everything after that last sentence failed to reach him. He had hoped that he could have become able to prevent tragedies such as this from ever happening again, but he was wrong. He learned that long ago, and this was just another reminder that he failed. The floor creaked behind him, and Henry walked in still yawning.

"I see we are starting the day off happy, Caster."

Shirou turned towards Henry, "I'm sorry if I woke you, but seeing as I am unable to project my vision across the city, I must rely on any and all news to try to discover the locations and actions of Servants."

For a brief moment, the image of a news anchor presenting the story on an ancient Greek hero rampaging down a highway came to Henry, and he had to suppress his desire to laugh.

"How would the news help us find Servants? It is against Mage Law to reveal the existence of magic to the public. So, the news should be useless."

"It isn't as though the news will tell me the details or the locations of the servants, but I can predict where Servants are going to be based off of the effects of their presence."

"Would a battle between any two Servants leave enough evidence for the news to report it?" replied Henry.

"Likely, unless the Servant is Assassin. Servants are heroes of immense magical and physical prowess. If two servants clash with the intent to kill the other, there would definitely be evidence left over. "

"What signs are we looking for?" asked Henry not sure of what they need to look for.

"For example," Shirou continued, "There have been two notable crimes since I was summoned last night. There was a shooting and arson. Using a gun to kill another is unconventional for both a Servant and their Master since it can alarm others and can be less lethal than common curses; however," he said with an emphasis, "A fire which was started in an unpopulated industrial area and which was unable to be contained is more likely to be a result of a Servant or Master."

Henry stopped for a moment trying to think through all of the details he pointed out. It made sense to him since using a gun would be too messy for mages to use, and that starting a fire using magic would explain both its origin and uncontrollability. The only issue was that this was just speculation, and would be difficult to prove correct.

"So are we going to search the city around the fire to locate the Master or Servant that started it?" asked Henry.

"We won't be searching for the one who started it, but the other Servants likely think that the fire was also started by a Servant or Master, and we will look for them."

Henry watched as Shirou started to shuffle through the workbench Henry had setup in the corner of the room to practice magic. There were several notes and containers of magical ingredients on the desktop and in its drawers. While he watched, his stomach started to roll over. He was not sure whether it was excitement for being able to take his first step towards his goal or anxiety over whether that night might be his last. While he was standing contemplating the situation, he watched as Shirou walked over to the kitchen and started shuffling through the pots and pans within the cabinets.

"Are you preparing some sort of potion?" Henry asked with a sense of excitement while also trying to ignore his stomach.

"No," Shirou replied firmly, "I'm preparing breakfast. What do you want?"

At that moment, Henry's stomach rolled over again. This time he realized it was due to hunger. He quickly told Shirou what he wanted before falling into the sofa out of embarrassment.

"I think it is time that we talk about your abilities, Saber," Richard Carter said.

"I do not see why it is important to you," Beowulf replied.

Mr. Carter seemed a little disappointed at Beowulf's disregard, "I need to know what your Noble Phantasm is so I can strategize. I do not even know what your sword is."

"Oh?" Beowulf remarked, "I have two swords. The first is the sword which was used to defeat the demon mother of the monster Grendel, Hrunting. The second is the jeweled sword betrothed to me by the great King of the Danes, Hrothgar, which was used to slay the dragon that plagued Geatland. Its name is Naegling."

Mr. Carter looked impressed at Beowulf's declaration of his Noble Phantasms as well as their strengths. Meanwhile, Beowulf was paying no attention to Mr. Carter. His attention was on the news which was on the television on the wall. Even though it was muted, the words scrolling across the screen were enough to explain what the story was about. The news switched back to a story which had been repeated every hour since early in the morning. The screen showed a video of an area of the city which had burned in the middle of the night. This is why Beowulf was watching the news. Since it first was shown, he could not help but think about it.

'This is truly a tragedy,' Beowulf thought.

"Master," Beowulf sudden said to Mr. Carter, "If you may allow me, I want to visit the site of that fire."

Richard looked towards the television screen and read the scrolling text on the screen. He barely gave it a moment of thought before saying, "No."

"It would be in our interests to stop whoever is behind this," Beowulf retorted, "If we let them continue, we may be their next target!"

"That is unlikely," said Mr. Carter, "My entire plan is to stand back and bide our time. I am a normal person, so the mages will not be able to find me. As long as I wait out this war the others will kill each other, and then I can come in and easily win."

Beowulf glared at his master as he spoke those words.

"You intend to just sit back and watch as your fellow people are killed before you?"

There was a moment of pause followed by Mr. Carter getting up with a slight sigh.

"This is a mage conflict. They are not my 'fellow people'."

With those last words, the conversation was over. Mr. Carter walked to the door to exit the flat as he left for the day. Beowulf sat still during all of this. As the click of the lock sounded, Beowulf stood up seething in anger.

'He desires to be a king, but he acts like a peasant!' Beowulf thought, 'If he desires others to follow him then he needs to be the one to act!'

Behind him came the sound of a soft thud followed by a high pitched squeal. Beowulf turned around to see Mary at the door to her room having fallen onto the floor after being surprised by Beowulf's sudden rise. Beowulf took a step towards her.

"Are you alright, little one?"

Mary tried to get up. Her movements were slow, but she still managed to get back up before Beowulf could cross the room to her.

"I'm fine!" she chirped trying to put on a smile, "Are you going to help everyone?"

Mary nodded towards the television which was still showing the images of the fire from the night before.

"My master has forbidden me to take action," he resentfully said, "Even if I did, those people cannot be helped."

"But you said they might attack again!" she protested, "I don't want anyone to get hurt!"

Beowulf looked at Mary as she innocently stated her opposition, "You are still young. As long as this person wishes ill on others, someone will be hurt, even if it is just us in the end."

"And what if they don't want to attack us just like how you don't want to stay here?" she argued.

Beowulf was surprised by Mary's argument. He pondered it for a moment before laughing, "If that is so, then I guess they would not get hurt!"

Mary smiled at having won the argument. She put her hands on her hips and puffed out her chest in victory, "Then let's get going!"

This took Beowulf by surprise, "Wait! I never said we will be going! Your father forbids it!"

Mary took her victory stance again as though she already won, "But he never said I couldn't!"

Beowulf was still taken aback by her sudden reversal of the situation, but he eventually gave in.

"I guess I have no choice but to guard you along your way."

'At least someone here understands how a true leader needs to act' Beowulf thought as he watched Mary start to run back to her room to get ready. As she tried to run around the doorway, she tripped again, 'Now if only she was qualified to lead others!"

"Is there still nothing there?" asked Henry from behind a half burnt warehouse wall.

Shirou materialized ahead of him a little bit, "Nothing yet. I'm not sure whether anyone will appear."

It had been several hours since they had first arrived. They decided to arrive long before sunset since most masters would not have their servants out during the day due to Mage Law. At first, they were not sure whether the fire could have been started naturally or not, but their question was answered quickly due to the perverse amounts of mana permeating the area. Henry still had a chill running down his spine from the feeling the mana was giving his senses. Even Shirou's body, which was given form by magic, seemed to only give off a mild sensation in the sea of the mana around them.

"Surely someone else would investigate this," said Henry, "It isn't really hiding that a servant was involved."

As Henry spoke, someone had just come into view. It was a man who could only be described as a giant. He had a muscular build and shoulder length grey hair. He seemed to be alone as he reached the center of the empty lot surrounded by burnt warehouses.

"Is he a servant?" Henry asked Shirou for confirmation despite him already knowing the answer.

"Yes," he replied while watching the giant's every move, "He seems to be strong both physically and magically. I'm not sure what class he could be. Berserker is out of the question since he seems to be sane."

Henry watched the giant as well. Shirou seemed to skip over describing his abilities. The giant was obviously physically strong due to the muscles he had, but magic seemed to be pouring out of his body as though there was no limit. Henry had not seen another servant other than Shirou, so he had no idea what servants would be like, and this giant made him understand that Shirou was nowhere close in terms of natural abilities.

"Do you think you would be able to defeat a servant like that?" asked Henry out of concern.

"I'm not sure," replied Shirou, "It would depend on a few things, but I would not rule it out."

They stayed silent a while as they watched the giant before the giant suddenly shouted, "I know that you are there. If you do not wish to show me harm, then show me your face."

Henry shrunk back behind the wall out of reactionary fear before he heard footsteps not too far away. He went back to the edge of the wall to see who the footsteps belonged to. When Henry saw the owner of the footsteps, it was obvious that they were another servant.

The new servant was what would easily be described as the textbook example of a medieval knight. They wore plate metal armor from head-to-toe. There was purple plume adorning the helmet of the knight. Despite the appearance of the knight being rather underwhelming, the weapon they carried was not. In their right hand was a 15 foot long lance much too long and heavy for conventional use, but seemed to not inconvenience the knight despite this.

Shirou seemed to prepare himself in case some sort of fight began. Before they came, they had agreed on fleeing if multiple servants appeared or if any fight was started. Since there now two servants, they were both wanting to leave; however, they were not going to flea so easily since the other two would likely sense them leaving if they were to move too suddenly, and if they stayed, they could learn about the servants' abilities.

"Who are you?" asked the giant towards the knight as he prepared himself for an attack.

"I am afraid that myn master has forbid me from speaking myn name," the knight rested the end of his lance on the ground and raised his other hand as a sign of peace, "As for myself, I do not see it necessary to fight. Myn master has only bid me to find the beast that caused this fire."

The giant seemed relieved by this, "It seems like there are still people that are honorable," as the giant said this, he lowered his guard in response to the knight's gesture of peace, "If it is possible, I am willing to lend a hand of help. I have my own reasons for finding the one who caused the fire."

The knight gave this a moment of thought before responding, "I shall accept thy offer. Though we may be enemies, I do not desire to start fights myn master would not wish for."

Henry looked towards Shirou to see if he was in agreement to leave while the two servants seemed to have lowered their guards. Shirou just gave a short nod having already decided to withdraw. They were preparing to leave as another voice came from around the wall.

"Beowulf!" the young girl's voice sang out in the distance, "Where are you?"

The two of them looked around the wall once again to see who the new arrival was, but Henry already knew who it was from their voice. From behind one of the burnt warehouses in the distance, a small girl stumbled into view. She had snow white hair and scarlet eyes which were the characteristics of homunculi. Henry uttered a quick curse under his breath. The last person that he wanted to be here was her, Mary. He now understood that the giant had to be her servant, and that he must be Beowulf from one of the oldest English epics.

"Why did you come out, Mary?" asked Beowulf, "I said it may be dangerous."

"I was scared," Mary replied innocently. As a child, she obviously did not understand what a life or death situation was.

Beowulf gave a short sigh of relief that she was at least safe. He turned back towards the knight, but was shocked to see that the knight seemed to be preparing to attack. Beowulf only had a split second to raise his guard before the knight crashed into him. Beowulf was barely able to shift the lance away from his chest before he collided.

"Why are you attacking?" shouted Beowulf, "Do you intend to break your promise?"

It was not easy to see, but the knight seemed to lower his head as Beowulf spoke. "Myn master bid me to kill any master that I see," he replied, "And if thou have any loyalty for thy master, thou would stop me." The knight gave a short pause before finally saying, "I only wish to serve myn master, even if I have to break myn promise."

Beowulf let out a yell as he hurled the knight with enough force to send him flying; however, this attack seemed to not harm the knight since he gently landed on his feet shortly after being thrown.

Meanwhile, Henry started to panic. The last thing that he wanted when he entered the Holy Grail War was for Mary to be mindlessly killed in the ruins of some warehouses. Henry turned towards his servant. "Shirou!" he quickly said, "I don't know how, but we need to stop that knight from killing Mary!"

Shirou closed his eyes as though he was considering the possibilities. "I think I have an idea of how to keep her safe, but it will not work if any other servants attack."

"Please!" Henry begged, "This is the one thing I need you to do."

Shirou looked at Henry seriously for a moment before finally giving a short sigh, "I thought I was done with doing crazy things when I died."

With those last words, Shirou dematerialize in front of Henry as he agreed to protect Mary. After Shirou had left, Henry turned back to the battle unfolding before him.

The knight rushed Beowulf again. This time, he swung his lance like a club into Beowulf's side. Despite Beowulf raising his arm in defense just in time, the force of the lance hitting him was enough to cause him to lose his balance.

"Why does thou not draw thy weapon?" the knight asked as Beowulf regained his balance.

"Why are you holding back?" he retorted, "Your hits are weak."

"As a knight, it is dishonorable enough to strike someone they ally with. I do not wish to also strike an unarmed man," the knight replied while tightening the hold on his lance, "Draw thy weapon so myn master may no longer be dishonored by this battle."

Beowulf raised his fists as he got into a fighting stance. "You act as though your master was a king. If he truly was, he would want you to fight me regardless of whether I have a weapon or not," he gave a small chuckle, "I have fought worse than you with these fists anyways."

The knight pointed his lance back at Beowulf's heart as he got into his own battle stance, "If thou insist on dishonoring myn master, then I have no choice."

The knight got into a stance that looked as though he was preparing to fully charge Beowulf; however, at the tip of the lance appeared a small purple flame. The flame started to slowly spread before exploding into a giant blaze fully engulfing his lance.

As Henry watched the knight, the chill running down his spine turned freezing cold. He could tell from just one look that this had to be a Noble Phantasm. As he watched, he started to realize that the knight's lance was not engulfed with flames at all, but it was the shear amount of mana becoming visible as he prepared the attack. Henry was unsure where all the mana was coming from since he was unable to detect this much mana from the knight to begin with. It was almost as though the knight was drawing out the full power of his lance instead of himself.

Henry suddenly knew who the mysterious knight was. There was knight of legend which was not special in any ways. Neither a magical weapon nor a secret strength, but despite this was able to be considered second only to the strongest of his time through nothing more than his skill with all weapons, the most notable and famous of all knights, Sir Lancelot du Lac.

"This will be the last of myn attacks!" Lancelot yelled, "In life there was only one who could parry this blow, and it was to him that I vowed my life. This attack is for those I protected, and for those I fought with," he continued to yell as wind started to howl, "AND FOR THE KING!"

With those last words, the knight launched at Beowulf. The light of the purple flames seemed to light up every corner of the once dark lot. Shortly after the attack started, there was an explosion as it hit its target. Dust engulfed the lot and blocked all sight.

The shear amount of mana in the area started to make Henry feel as though he was drowning. He had never experienced any magic using this much mana before even at the Clock Tower. This was truly a battle between servants of legend.

The dust started to settle from the explosion. Henry looked back at the remnants of the battle. Lancelot stood with his lance still directed at Beowulf's heart; however, the knight failed to kill his target. Blood and mana burns covered the giant from head to toe, but the tip of the lance was held in his hands inches away from his heart.

"How…," started the knight.

"As I said," the giant jested, "Your hits are weak. In terms of shear strength, I win; however, your persistent buzzing around earlier was annoying. Thank you for coming straight at me with that last one."

Lancelot pulled his lance out of Beowulf's grip with some difficulty and withdrew a few feet. Beowulf fell onto one knee as he continued to watch the knight.

"I admire thy strength and tenacity," Lancelot said trying to regain his composure, "However, as I said, myn master only wishes for me to kill thy master, and even though thou are not dead from that strike, thou are unable to protect thy master."

Beowulf quickly tried to stand back up, but the pain caused him to collapse again as he watched the knight rocket towards Mary, who was still frozen in place from the battle that happened in front of her. Lancelot was able to quickly close the distance to her in almost no time at all.

"MARY!" shouted both Henry and Beowulf as though pleading Lancelot to stop; however, the knight seemed to be ignoring the both of them.

Suddenly, there was a burst of blue light behind Mary. There was a moment of hesitation from the knight as the red headed boy spoke, "Trace on!"

At that moment, blue sparks flew from Shirou's hand as a sword formed inside of it. The sword looked like a short sword from European origin with nothing else of note, and it seemed to be nothing more than a normal sword. There was also a faint blue light that seemed to fill the area around him. Henry could tell from the shimmering nature of it that it was a boundary field.

Shirou was still some distance away from the two when he started this, and it looked as though he was not going to make it to Mary in time. Shirou then seemed to blink out of existence for a moment before reappearing in front of Lancelot. Shirou swung his sword at the knight's lance making it move out of its course with Mary.

Lancelot recoiled a bit from the sudden change in the situation. He raised his lance again, but this time, he pointed it at Shirou. Shirou created another regular sword, but this time it was one that looked more like a cutlass. Behind the two of them, Beowulf started to get back onto his feet after recovering from the pain of his wounds.

Lancelot looked back and forth from Shirou and Beowulf before lowering his lance, "Myn master has forbid me from fighting two servants at once. Consider thyself lucky myn master has allowed this to end in myn failure."

With those last words, Lancelot dematerialized. After a moment, Shirou did the same with his swords and boundary field. Despite having thrown away his weapons, Beowulf still advanced towards Shirou with concern for Mary.

"Who are you?" he asked Shirou, "Why did you protect her?"

Shirou stood where he was without responding before Henry ran out from his hiding spot.

"Mary!" he shouting trying to get her attention.

"Henry?"

"Mary," he said again as he finally reached her, "Are you okay? What are you doing here?"

Mary was still frozen from what all had been happening and was confused why Henry was here. Beowulf still stood in front of Shirou, but turned to look at Henry.

"Do you know her?" the giant asked.

"Yes," Henry replied, "You could say that we are like family."


	3. An Unkept Promise

**AN: I am not dead, and neither is the story. I have been busy for the last few months, but regardless, I am a slow writer. Enjoy the new chapter! The next one might be a little short, though.**

Chapter 3: An Unkept Promise

There was a moment of nothingness before Maria Torres snapped to her senses. She noticed that she was standing on top of a grassy hill overlooking a city she had never been to, but had seen in pictures many times. It was the giant circular building that gave it away, the Coliseum. The buildings looked like they were ancient. 'No,' she thought, 'They are ancient! This is Rome as it once was." The scene was beautiful, but she was too focused on finding out what was going on to enjoy the view.

She looked down at her hands. They were the same dark hands she had, and she was still wearing the same business dress she remembered last wearing; however, she did not know how she got to Ancient Rome.

As she was contemplating her situation, there was a sudden burst of light. She shielded her eyes from the sudden brightness. Before she could uncover her eyes, the heat reached her and she knew what was going on. As she removed her hands from her eyes, she saw the city of Rome covered in flames. The buildings that were made of stone started to become blackened as the flames showed no sign of dying. The sounds of the citizens' screams and cries started to drown the once beautiful scene in sorrow and tragedy. She completely forgot about her situation and started towards the burning city; however, a faint sound behind her caught her attention as it seemed out of place amidst the scene before her. It was the clear sound of a girl singing.

The girl was beautiful. She was standing there singing with her golden hair flowing behind her as she stood in a white linen nightgown. The girl seemed to not notice the fire or screams in front of her. Maria knew the girl in front of her. They had met just the other night; however, she was much more kind and gentle looking than she remembered.

"Nero?" she called out.

The girl in front of her showed no signs of stopping her singing. It was as if she was unable to hear her. Maria walked up to her and raised her hand as she prepared to reach out towards the girl to try to let her know what was going on, but there came another sound from behind her that was much more suited to the situation.

Maria turned back around to be shocked by the sight of the same golden haired girl, but instead of singing, she was doubled over on the ground crying. Her cries seemed to overpower the sounds of the fire in front of them. Maria looked back behind her, and the same girl was still singing. She slowly walked over to the girl that was on the ground crying.

"Nero?" she asked hesitantly while trying to sound comforting.

The crying girl stopped crying for a moment to raise her head and look back at Maria. Her emerald eyes only seemed to add to her beauty, but her eyes had already burned red from the crying. Maria was preparing to call out again to see if she could actually hear her, but then the crying girl reached out and grabbed both of Maria's arms as she tried to regain herself.

The girl kept crying for a while, and Maria could not help herself from putting her arms around her in a comforting embrace. Suddenly the girl looked up at her with tears still rolling down her face as she opened her mouth to speak. No words seemed to come out however. Maria asked her to repeat herself, but the only word she could her was a very faint "please" as the girl seemed to lose her ability to speak.

The girl rushed into Maria's arms and buried her face into her chest for comfort. Her tears felt hot as they seeped into her suit. The world started to turn dark as she fell into a sense of nothingness; however, the hot and wet feeling of her tears still seemed to linger.

Maria heard a crack as she snapped back to her senses. She was back in the alley that she remembered being in last. In front of her was the beautiful girl again. Her golden hair flowed down her back as usual, but her emerald eyes seemed to lack any kindness they previously had as they seemed to stare emotionless at nothing in general. In her hand was a sword that Maria could tell was once red, but had since been blackened by flames. It was then that a wave of pain finally hit.

There was a slowly growing red spot on her chest where the girl's sword had pierced her. The blood felt hot and wet as it slowly spread. After a while, Maria fell to the ground as her legs gave out from shock. She was starting to feel faint as she looked up to the beautiful, emotionless girl above her.

"Ne…ro…," she managed to force out.

It was to no avail. Her servant seemed to say something in reply, but she was unable to hear her. The girl before her turned around as though not caring about her master's pleads for life and started to walk away. The alley suddenly became filled with darkness as she fell unconscious.

* * *

"So, you have known Mary for all of her life?" Beowulf asked.

Henry shifted Mary around on his back. She said she was tired shortly after they left the ruined warehouses, and Henry let her ride on his back so she could fall asleep while they walked back through the city streets. He turned to the dematerialized servant next to him.

"Yeah. Her mother was my professor, and you could say I was her favorite student," Henry said thinking back to his days at the Clock Tower, "I wasn't able to help her much, but I was always there for her experiments. I'd like to think that I am the closest thing to an older brother that Mary has."

"And because of that, you entered this war with a servant of your own?" Beowulf asked while watching Shirou who had not dematerialized, "Would you not have to fight her eventually?"

Henry let out a sigh, "Well," he started, "Yes, but I wasn't planning on actually fighting her. If anything, I was just going to deal with her father."

"I cannot say that I am fine with you casually saying you are going to fight my master," Beowulf replied, "But I will overlook it for now."

Henry shuttered a little after having suddenly remembered that he was actually an enemy master to Beowulf, and that the servant had no reason to not attack him other than honor.

"I-I'm sorry!" Henry said trying to retract what he had just said, "I wasn't thinking before I said it."

There was a short moment of silence before Beowulf replied, "My master is not the most honorable of people."

Henry felt a little relieved at Beowulf's statement. He was afraid that Beowulf would take offense and declare Henry an enemy, but it seemed that through that one statement he was saying that he understands. "Thank you," Henry said.

"Now," Beowulf said regaining Henry's attention, "He is your servant, is he not?"

Henry looked over to Shirou who did not seem interested in the conversation, "Yes. He's Caster. Although, I've never seen a mage fight like he does."

Beowulf gave a grunt in agreement.

"Boy," he said towards Shirou, "May I ask who you are?"

Henry did not expect Shirou to reply to this question, but then he did.

"My name is Shirou Emiya," he said turning to finally look towards Henry and Beowulf, "My skills back there were a mixture of my magecraft and the Caster class's Territory Creation skill," Shirou paused for a moment before continuing, "I was trying to replicate something I saw during my life, so I'm sorry I didn't show my personal skills."

"Is it really okay to be telling him all of this?" Henry asked suddenly.

"Trust me," Shirou said, "Even if he knows how it works, it doesn't mean he can stop it."

Beowulf started laughing.

"Those are some strong words for just a boy," he said, "I guess I should not underestimate you."

Shirou smiled a bit before his attention was taken away. He held up his hand to make the others stop. Henry was confused as to why Shirou had them stop, but before he could ask, the seals on the back of his hand started to burn.

"This presence…," Beowulf said.

"It has to be a master," Shirou said to Beowulf, "But their presence seems to be weak. Either they are hiding, or…"

Shirou stopped talking and ran off around the street corner. Henry hurriedly followed Shirou asking for him to explain what he was about to, but when he rounded to corner, it was obvious to him. Laying face-down on the sidewalk was a woman. Her dark skin was spotted with her blood. She was not moving and there was a trail of blood coming out of a nearby alley showing that she had dragged herself there before falling unconscious.

"We should bring her back to the alley," Shirou said.

"Why?" Henry asked, "She needs to go to a hospital!"

"She is a master in this Grail War," Shirou said while trying to pick up her limp body, "She could only have been attacked by another servant. Her wounds are not normal."

Despite his hesitation, Henry had to agree. If the wound was magical in nature, normal medicine would not be able to save her, and if the wound was a curse, it would require breaking it before it could heal. As Shirou lifted her, Henry was shocked to see that she was still breathing despite the large wound and blood loss. Beowulf materialized next to them to help gentle move her back to the alley.

They tried to lean her against the wall of the alley. Henry gave Mary over to Beowulf while trying not to wake her. Once she was off of him, Henry walked over to the girl to help Shirou investigate the wound.

Shirou was already at work. There was a dull flash of green light as Shirou checked her entire body for any issues. Henry tried to feel for any foreign mana, but there was none coming from the wound. Shirou completed his inspection and gave a small nod to Henry stating everything was alright. He then put his hand against the wound on her chest.

Shirou paused for a second before softly saying to the woman, "I'm sorry."

Suddenly, there was the sharp sound of metal scraping against metal. When Shirou removed his hand, Henry could see the source of it was a web of what looked like small blades that seemed to stitch her wound closed. Henry had never seen this method of healing. Normally mages would be able to use healing magecraft to quickly heal any wound.

"What is this?" Henry asked out of curiosity.

"I told you before that I can only use to forms of magecraft," Shirou replied, "The first is Projection, and the second is Reinforcement. Sadly, I am useless when it comes to healing magic." Shirou turned towards Henry before continuing, "Also, even though there is no curse, it seems that there is some sort of magic that stopping the wound from closing. Even with magic, it may be too difficult for us. We would need to find someone else to save her."

Henry looked back at the woman as a sense of sadness came to him. If only they were able to do something, they would not have to stand there feeling useless as she was dying. As Henry sat there, the woman's eyes flickered open for a moment.

"It looks like the pain woke her up," Shirou said.

The woman blinked a few more times before she could start to see her surroundings. She looked between Shirou and Henry for a moment while she was completely dazed. After a short moment, she suddenly remembered what happened to her before she lost consciousness. She jerked forward and grabbed onto both of them before starting to yell.

"You need to get out of here! It's not safe!"

Henry grabbed onto the arm she was grabbing him with before replying, "Don't worry. I'm a master as well. We found you on the sidewalk and just want to help you."

She was stunned for a moment before seeing the marks on the back of Henry's hand. This did not seem to calm her down. It seemed as though several things where running through her mind without being able to say any of them. There was a moment of silence as she was sitting there before she finally spoke.

"Please," she begged Henry, "You need to find her! I'm scared of what she might do!"

"What do you mean?" Henry asked suddenly feeling a sense of dread.

The woman seemed hesitant for a moment before continuing, "It's Berserker. I couldn't control her anymore. You need to stop her before she starts another fire!"

Henry looked down at the woman's hand and noticed that of the three Command Seals on her hand, she only had none left. He knew that these were the only things that stopped servants from killing their masters, and that losing all of them will most likely lead to the master's death. Before anyone could reply, Beowulf placed a hand on Henry's shoulder forcing him out of the way

"Are you telling me that this servant is the one that started the fire yesterday?" Beowulf asked with a note of anger in his voice.

The woman doubled over. "I'm sorry! I tried to stop her, but it was too late," she cried.

"Do you know that people died?" Beowulf shouted back, "Innocent men, women, and children! Do you think that saying 'Sorry' can account for that?"

The woman doubled over. Her crying had lessened as she started to talk again.

"I joined this war for my children, Miguel and Sophia. They meant everything to me," she said, her voice coarse from the crying, "I went to a nearby warehouse to warehouse to summon a servant in hopes of winning this war. It was only a moment after the summoning that she started the fire. I couldn't control her, and she burned everything. It reached my house and…," she stopped to try to hold back the tears, "They must have woke up looking for me! I didn't think this would have happened when I joined this stupid war! Just stop her before anyone else dies," she said before adding, " I should have never decided to learn magic!

There was a moment of silence as the woman doubled over crying again. Beowulf backed away, but Shirou advanced. He was unable to tell at first, but the signs were there. Darkening skin and whitening hair were the signs of overexerting the body's magical circuits. It was obvious to Shirou that she must be a first generation mage. He understood the struggle to perform even basic magecraft as a first generation mage.

"I will do it," Shirou said.

Maria looked up at Shirou with tears in her eyes, "Really?"

"I will too," said Beowulf who was still pushing Henry out of the way, "I have my own reasons to find this beast."

Shirou stood up. "I'm sorry to ask this, but will you let me do this by myself?"

Both Henry and Beowulf looked over at Shirou when he said that.

"Why?" asked Beowulf, "It will most likely be dangerous alone."

"I know," he said, "I just need to do it myself. If not, then nothing has changed."

Beowulf seemed to want to reject his argument, but he seemed to hold himself back despite everything. Meanwhile, Henry looked at Shirou with concern. In the short time that he had known Shirou, Henry knew that Shirou was normally serious, but he was always calm. At that moment, Henry saw that Shirou was tense and prepared to throw everything away.

"Shirou…," Henry said before suddenly falling silent, "If you go, make sure that you come back."

Shirou gave a smirk despite his odd behavior. "Don't worry. I'll be back and help her after I'm done."

Henry gave him one last smile before leaving, "We'll be waiting."

With the those last words, Shirou ran down the alley as the others left to make their way back to Henry's apartment. When everyone was gone, Maria was left alone. She was on the verge of falling unconscious from the pain in her chest as the small blades ground against each other. As her vision became blurry, the figure appeared in her vision seeming to reach out for her. She gave a small smile as she fell unconscious.

* * *

The search was not too difficult. As a Berserker, servants lose their sense of sanity, and as such attack anything they deem as an enemy regardless of whether it was living or not. Shirou followed the trail of destruction through the maze of alleyways until he heard her. There was a constant sound of rats shrieking in fear as she tried to hit them repeatedly.

Shirou was hiding around a corner from the opening Berserker was in. After a while, Shirou peaked out to try to see Berserker. He saw the figure of a girl dressed in white as she swung her sword down to the ground repeatedly. Her golden hair flew round in a mess, yet Shirou could not stop from noticing how beautiful she was. He thought he recognized her for a moment, but he had to remind himself that it could not be her.

As the servant girl was distracted swinging her sword, Shirou raised his hand and muttered, "Trace on."

There was a burst of blue sparks from his hand as a thin long sword materialized in his hand. With a swift movement, he threw the sword at the girl while making sure not to make any noise. The sword moved quickly; however, just before it was going to hit the girl, she dodged it. It didn't seem as though she could tell that it was coming, but instead, her body moved itself out of the way. Regardless of how she dodged, Shirou realized his presence was now known.

With a small flash of light, Shirou teleported into the opening. He projected a pair of the same swords as before into his hands. He threw the first one to her left before teleporting again to her right and throwing the second in an attempt to have at least one hit her; however, just like before, her body seemed to move out of the way of the first blade before she broke the second blade with a single swing of her sword.

Shirou projected another pair of swords while he watched the servant. The girl lifted her head, and Shirou was able to see her emerald eyes that were burning red from the tears running down her face. She raised her sword and swung at Shirou. The movements she made while attacking seemed just as odd as when she dodge. It was almost as if she was not in control of herself. Shirou teleported away from her sword swing as a blast of fire spread across the building behind where he was.

Shirou retreated for a moment to come up with a new plan of action. The girl was still stand in the same spot as when the battle started as though she was not having trouble countering all of his attacks. As Shirou stood there thinking, the girl turned to face him again. This time she opened her mouth to speak, but he could hear nothing more than 'Please'.

"What did you say?" Shirou asked trying to stall for some more time.

"Please," she said through her sobs, "Please,…kill me!"

Shirou was stunned for a moment before it all made sense. Her actions up until now and her puppet-like movements were caused because she has no control over herself. She was just as much of a victim as everyone else by having to witness herself cause the fires that killed others while being unable to stop herself. He looked into her tear filled eyes one more time accepting her final request.

The swords in Shirou's hands disappeared as he tried to project a new pair. A pair of twin black and white short swords appeared in his hands. Shirou felt a wave of anger and sadness wash over him at the sight of the familiar swords, but he was prepared to use their strength to accomplish this. He knew exactly what he needed to do. The technique was made so the target could not escape no matter how hard they tried. He projected two more pairs of the short swords, each of which were sent flying around the girl, and Shirou leaped forward with all of his might as he tried to close the distance between them as fast as possible. The other blades that were sent flying curved in towards the girl, surrounding her from all directions. Shirou saw as a small smile appeared on the girl's crying face as she once more mouthed something unheard, but Shirou could tell at this distance that what she meant to say was 'Thank you!'

In the moment right before Shirou could reach out with his swords, the ground underneath her opened up. In a split second, the ground around her reached up towards her before closing in and crushing her. Shirou teleported away as an instinctual reaction, but he knew what had to have caused this. The ground that crushed the girl was infused with a large amount of mana that Shirou had not sensed before. Shirou tried to sense the source of the mana, but he was unable to find anyone; however, as he was looking around for the mana source, a voice spoke up from where the girl was.

"Is it sad that she was a puppet?" spoke the voice.

Shirou turned back to where the girl was to see a large man with short, messy green hair. The man was wearing nothing except what seemed to be a table cloth sloppily hanging onto his muscular body. The man seemed to be more like some beast than an actual person, but it was clear that they were the servant that killed her.

"Who are you?" Shirou asked, slowly raising his blades to prepare for any attacks.

"You didn't answer my question," the man said. He spoke in a monotonous way as though he did not care about what was going on, "Is it sad that she was a puppet? Is that why you wanted to free her?"

"I had my reasons," Shirou said as he tried to look for any way of escape, "You still haven't answered me."

The man looked back at the pile of earth that use to be Berserker, "Humans are strange indeed," he said before turning back to Shirou, "I would rather stay nameless, but if you must, you can call Enkidu like that foolish king Gilgamesh."

A wave of dread came over Shirou. A memory of a golden clad man standing over him as the city around him burned came to him. This man was the sworn brother and equal to the golden man that was considered to be the pinnacle of strength. It was enough to rival and defeat even the gods from his times. The thing that made this worse for him was that the Gilgamesh from his memories was only an Archer class Servant devoid of his original physical and magical abilities, and the servant before him was suppose to be the man that was Gilgamesh's equal created by the gods from the earth to kill him. Shirou tried yet again to sense the man's mana, this time he understood why he failed before. Just like the story implied the man's mana, just like his body, was not his own, but was the earth's. A seemingly endless flow of mana seemed to be circulating from the earth to his body in order to provide him mana.

"My business is done here, so this is good bye," Enkidu said before turning to leave."

"Wait!" Shirou shouted, "Are you not intending to kill me too?"

Enkidu did not hesitate in replying, "My master only told me to find and kill that Berserker. I have no reason to kill you yet."

Enkidu turned around and walked away from Shirou, leaving him alone in the alleyway. After he disappeared from view, Shirou collapsed from the stress. He knew deep inside that if the man was as strong as the legends depicted, then there was no possibility of anyone else winning the war.

After collecting himself, Shirou stood back up and made his way back towards Berserker's master to tell her about the girl's fate; however, once he made it back to her, he discovered that she had died. There was a small wound in her head that was unmistakably a gunshot wound. Shirou stood there over her body as tears started to fall down his face.

"Why?" he asked to no one, "Why can't I save anyone?"

There was no response. Shirou stood there for another moment before leaving the alley and starting to make the long trip back to Henry's apartment. All the while, the city was quiet.


End file.
